FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT UNIVERSITY CENTER - PAGE 2

The Illinois Board of Higher Education voted 11-1 Thursday to place the proposed University Center's main campus at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, with a satellite site in downtown Waukegan. The vote during the board meeting at the Thompson Center brought closure to more than two years of studies, surveys and hearings on the multiuniversity center for the fast-growing north suburban region. "You've given us a wonderful gift," CLC President Gretchen Naff told members minutes after the roll-call vote.

College classes will be offered at Lakehurst Shopping Center in Waukegan as early as late summer with or without the state's proposed $22 million University Center, according to developer Martin Tuohy. With a little more than two weeks before the Illinois Board of Higher Education is scheduled to make a decision on the location of the center, Tuohy said plans for his proposed redevelopment of the Lakehurst site in Waukegan will proceed, no matter what the state board decides. The board passed a resolution last year stating its preference for placing the center at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

By Marcia Sagendorph. Special to the Tribune. Tribune staff reporter Helene Van Sickle contributed to this report | September 15, 2002

When educators first floated the idea of building a place in Lake County where state universities could offer courses, they figured lots of people would be interested, but they didn't expect to enroll so many students so soon. Ground won't be broken until 2003 on the University Center of Lake County in Grayslake, but the program already has enrolled about 1,200 students at nine temporary locations throughout the county. "Having a main building will help strengthen the identity of the University Center," said Charlie Evans, a University of Illinois executive who helped organize the center.

Chicago has had its share of architecturally distinguished academic buildings lately, but the new University Center, a banal high-rise dormitory at the southeast corner of State Street and Congress Parkway, cannot be counted among them. Built to house the young, its exterior is as stodgy as an old coot. Packed with amenities, it fails to pack much in the way of conceptual or architectural punch. The intellectual and formal problems are related. The 19-story building has an innovative program, housing students from three schools (Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University)

Supporters of the multi-university concept and representatives of the State Board of Higher Education are not letting the state Senate's vote cutting $13 million for a University Center dismantle their plans for a new school in Lake County. "Our plan is to proceed with this," said Don Sevener, director of communications for the State Board of Higher Education. "We're hopeful and maybe even confident that as we work through the legislative process we'll be able to educate legislators (about)

The College of Lake County, the possible site of the county's new University Center, is laying the foundation for an expansion of its Grayslake Campus this summer after securing a permit recently from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill in wetlands. The permit authorizes the college to fill in 6.46 acres of wetlands and 2.25 acres of water in exchange for its commitment to create 8.82 acres of wetland and prairie areas elsewhere on the campus. The college also agreed to enhance an additional 13 acres of wetland and improve environmental buffer zones and storm water detention.

Even as they awaited word on whether the General Assembly would approve $11 million to help build a multi-university center in the far northern suburbs, Lake County officials on Wednesday wondered how they would raise matching funds for the school. "We're facing some tough decisions here," said County Board member Judy Martini (R-Antioch), chairwoman of the board's Legislative Advisory Committee, which has been working on ways to find more state funding for county programs. Originally, officials had hoped that the General Assembly would give Lake County the authority to double its quarter-cent sales tax to generate an additional $15 million annually that could be used toward the university project.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education has voted 11-1 to place the proposed University Center's main campus at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, with a satellite site in downtown Waukegan. The vote during the board meeting at the Thompson Center brought closure to more than two years of studies, surveys and hearings on the multiuniversity center for the fast-growing north suburban region. "You've given us a wonderful gift," CLC President Gretchen Naff said. Similar programs in suburban Houston and Detroit operate at existing colleges, said Douglass Day, the board's deputy director for policy studies.

State officials have chosen Lake County Board Chairman James LaBelle (R-Zion) and four other county residents to serve on the University Center's board. In addition to LaBelle, those appointed by the state include Teresa Hall Bartels, a Mundelein resident and community relations specialist for Manpower Inc.; Alex Garcilazo, a Waukegan resident and president and co-owner of Midland Glass Co.; Gurnee resident Christopher E. George, vice president of human resources at Abbott Laboratories; and Ameritech Cellular President Annette M. Jacobs of North Barrington.

Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood and members of Lake County's delegation to the Illinois General Assembly convinced House lawmakers on Thursday to restore to the governor's budget $12.5 million in funding for a proposed multi-university center in the far northern suburbs. "I'm very pleased the House committee voted to restore the funding," Wood said in a telephone interview after appearing before the House Appropriations-Higher Education Committee in Springfield. "I also am very pleased that all of the Lake County legislators worked together to accomplish this goal," said Wood, a Lake Forest resident who on Wednesday convened a meeting of local lawmakers to discuss the need for a unified front on the issue.